Ha Noi, 30 January 2018 - UNESCO and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism co-organized today a technical workshop to review cultural statistics in Viet Nam. The situation analysis presented in the workshop was conducted in late 2017 as part of a Korea funded project implemented by UNESCO to work closely with the Vietnamese government in implementing its newly issued National Strategy for the Development of Cultural Industries to 2020, with vision to 2030.

Ha Noi, 23 January 2018 – The total number of out-of-school children from 5-14 years of age has been reduced significantly and the greatest reduction was observed among five-year-old pre-primary school children, according to the "Out-of-school Children: Viet Nam Country Study 2016" released today by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) and UNICEF.

Ha Noi, 22 January 2018 – A workshop "Country Study on Sustainable Financing Mechanisms for Ensuring Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) for All in Viet Nam" took place at the Green One United Nations House in Ha Noi on 22 January 2018. The workshop was organized by UNESCO Ha Noi and Viet Nam's Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), together with Kobe University and UNESCO Bangkok, and sponsored by Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), in the framework of MEXT/UNESCO project. Ms. Nguyen Thi Hien, Expert of Early Childhood Education (ECE) Department of MOET, the research team from Kobe University, UNESCO Bangkok, ECCE development partners, and officers in charge of ECE, Planning and Finance, and statistics from the Departments of Education and Training (DOET) in ten provinces attended the meeting.

Ha Noi, October 17/10/2017 - Aiming at improving the living environment and bringing culture and art to the community towards a better urban future, United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) successfully developed the project “Promote participatory, community-based and youth-led approach in safe, greening public spaces in Hoan Kiem district toward a pro-poor, inclusive and sustainable urban development” (hereinafter called Public Spaces project) under the Block by Block program with Mojang, the makers of the videogame Minecraft.

Deadline for round 1:From 17/10/2017 to 04/11/2017Extended to 9 November 2017

The age at which a child, can be held criminally liable is a controversial issue around the world. Within Viet Nam, this issue is currently being grappled with in the Penal Code amendments. Some argue that a "get tough on crime" approach is necessary to punish children to prevent further criminality.

However, international research shows that because of their developmental stages, labelling and treating children as criminals at an early age can have serious negative impacts on their development and successful rehabilitation.

On the occasion of New Year 2017, on behalf of the United Nations family in Viet Nam I wish to reiterate our appreciation and express our warmest wishes to our partners and friends throughout the country. We wish our partners and their families in Viet Nam peace, prosperity, good health and happiness in the coming year.

As we enter the second year of the Sustainable Development Goals era, we look forward to continuing our close cooperation for the sake of Viet Nam’s future development; one which is inclusive, equitable and sustainable, with no one left behind.

Thirty-five years since the emergence of AIDS, the international community can look back with some pride. But we must also look ahead with resolve and commitment to reach our goal of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

There has been real progress in tackling the disease. More people than ever are on treatment. Since 2010, the number of children infected through mother to child transmission has dropped by half. Fewer people die of AIDS related causes each year. And people living with HIV are living longer lives.

The number of people with access to life-saving medicines has doubled over the past five years, now topping 18 million. With the right investments, the world can get on the fast-track to achieve our target of 30 million people on treatment by 2030. Access to HIV medicines to prevent mother to child transmission is now available to more than 75 per cent of those in need.